As if agreeing with my words, the compass warmed in my palm.
A silence filled the chariot, which had slowed down to a snail’s pace under Jordan’s direction. Finally, Jordan sighed. “It’s not like I have a better idea. Tell me where to go.”
I moved to the front of the chariot with him. “Okay, so you’ll want to make a U-turn here— Whoa! Not that fast!”
We rode on and soon settled into a rhythm, with me giving directions and Jordan following them without complaint. After a few hours, Ashley was still out cold on the bench. She snored with a content look on her face, although that would probably change the moment she woke up and caught sight of the purple bruise that had welled up over her right eye.
“Is my sister still asleep?” Jordan asked anxiously after a while.
“Yeah. Wake up, sleepyhead.” I poked Ashley’s cheek. Her head slumped over to one side, a string of spittle hanging out her snoring mouth.
“You’ve gotta wake her up, Faryn! What if we run into demons here?”
“We’ll bait ’em with Ashley. Duh.”
“You have a really twisted sense of humor!” Jordan shouted.
“Kidding,” I said. “Obviously we’ll bait them with you.”
Jordan didn’t have a chance to retort before Ashley stirred. She rubbed her eyes. They popped wide open as she took in the sights around us.
“What happened?” Ashley scrambled to her feet, and then winced and clutched her head. “Why was I asleep?”
Jordan coughed. I pretended to be too fascinated by my nail beds to have heard the question.
“Why was I asleep?” Ashley repeated, louder and more firmly.
“You fell asleep—uh, completely on your own—and we … didn’t want to wake you,” I said. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter, and you should probably never think about it again!”
“Weirdo,” Ashley muttered, rolling her eyes at me. “Jordan, I’m driving now.”
Jordan offered no complaint, probably because he was exhausted from driving. Ashley and Jordan took turns driving the chariot. The sun rose and fell, rose and fell.
It was nighttime again, on the third day of the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the compass finally stopped glowing. By the light of the evening stars, I could see that we’d arrived at a huge, sweeping mountain covered in trees and wildlife. We were greeted by the sight of a massive waterfall that flowed white and blue and sparkled under the moonlight. It looked like it was made out of magic.
“I think we’re here,” I said. The guardian lions snorted and stamped their feet against the clouds, as though in agreement. “This is Huā Guǒ Shān.”
Huā Guǒ Shān, one of the settings for that video game Alex was obsessed with, Warfate. I’d heard so much about Huā Guǒ Shān. I’d even seen it on Journey to the West, Alex’s and my favorite cartoon show. Huā Guǒ Shān, or the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, was where the immortal Monkey King, Sun Wukong, reigned over his monkeys.
Except as far as I knew, that mountain was somewhere in China. I couldn’t be sure, but I was pretty certain that we hadn’t flown all the way to China. Although at this point, I was beginning to think nothing could surprise me. Maybe, like how Chinatowns had sprung up across the US thanks to Chinese immigration, Huā Guǒ Shān had been drawn to the States as well.
“We’re here.”
“Where exactly is here?” Ashley wrinkled her nose.
“It’s Huā Guǒ Shān,” I repeated. “We’re here to see Sun Wukong—the ‘old ally.’ ”
“This can’t be right,” Ashley declared. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “How can the Monkey King be the ‘old ally’ from Erlang Shen’s shī?”
“Well, the dude is, like, a bazillion years old,” Jordan said.
“It makes sense,” I said. “The Ruyi Jingu Bang must be the ‘weapon of greatest power.’ ”
“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Ashley protested. “The Monkey King, Sun Wukong, never allied with Erlang Shen in the old tales. They constantly butted heads. One time, when Sun Wukong was wreaking havoc on Heaven, the Jade Emperor even sent Erlang Shen to defeat him.”
“The Jade Emperor sent everyone to defeat Sun Wukong,” I pointed out. “Everyone and their butt-kicking grandmother. Back then, the Monkey King wasn’t friends with anyone. Remember?”
Ashley took a step toward me but stumbled when the chariot suddenly dipped. Under Jordan’s guidance, the stone lions brought us to a bumpy landing on a bridge in front of the waterfall.
“Everyone get off,” Jordan barked. “It’s time to meet this ‘old ally.’ ”
“What exactly are you thinking?” Ashley snapped as Jordan and I disembarked from the chariot. She stayed inside, her feet planted firmly. “I’m not following you guys.”
“You can stay here if you want,” I said sweetly, “but I wouldn’t recommend it. The demons are stronger at night, you know.”
“Of course I know that! As if there are any demons up here anyway!” Ashley shouted. But she didn’t seem to believe her own words and rapidly turned her head from side to side, as if expecting demons to jump out at any moment.
Finally, Ashley got off the chariot. I took the remote out of my pocket, clicked the button, and watched as the chariot turned back into a small coin—which Ashley then snatched up and shoved into her pocket. Her narrowed eyes dared me to try to take the yuán from her.
I rolled my eyes and turned to the waterfall.
“What do we do now?” Jordan asked.
“Call out the Monkey King’s name?” I suggested.
Jordan cupped his hands around his mouth. “Monkey King! Oh, Monkey King!”
“Stop that.” Ashley slapped her brother playfully on the elbow. “As if one of the most powerful gods would answer to the sound of your stupid voice.”
Jordan gave her a wounded look. “What do you suggest we do, then? Magically walk through that waterfall, like in Warfate?”
Although he was joking, Jordan’s words stirred my memories. With startling clarity, I recalled Alex playing his favorite video game. I’d watched him play a level that involved a magic waterfall hiding a secret entrance to the Monkey King’s lair. I couldn’t believe my brother’s dumb video games were coming in handy at a time like this. “You’re right. We have to walk through the waterfall,” I blurted out. “That’s how Sun Wukong does it in the video game and cartoons.”
Ashley scrunched up her nose. “Video games and cartoons? We’re on the most important quest of the century, and you want to base our decisions off a bunch of video games and cartoons?”
“Sounds about right for the twenty-first century,” Jordan said cheerfully. He stepped forward hesitantly, stretching out his fingers.
“Careful,” Ashley called, eyes wide with concern. I could tell she cared a lot about her brother, as much as she tried to hide it.
“Whoa, this is so weird,” Jordan gasped when his fingers met the water. “It’s not wet.” He moved swiftly through the waterfall. Jordan’s sneakers were the last I saw of him before he disappeared.